Day 248, Night ♈ Open

[emissaries]

Who: the Emissary, the Disciple, the Psiioniic, and you!
Open: Open like love is a door
When: Day 248, some hours after this.
Where: Near the entrance to the Skyway.
What: The trolls finally drag their asses into the Bastion.
Format: Starting with prose, but will follow.
Warnings: Troll blood and injuries. Also, the Psiioniic.

Darkness descended suddenly upon the three trolls as they passed into the limits of the Bastion, the sourceless, diffuse light from the Skyway fading to almost nothing within the span of a minute. Though a bit surprising (at least, until the Disciple explained this was normal), to someone nocturnal it was like coming into light after hours in the dark. Night felt safer, and the lights in the windows were a welcome sight, even with the architecture so unmistakably alien.

They must have made an odd sight, the three of them. Though the Disciple had already lived here for a little while, her two companions were new. One was a woman, with huge spiraling horns (yet somehow wearing a fedora), her black-and-red pantsuit stained liberally with something dull yellow. The other was male, carried on her back, severely emaciated and barely conscious, with the same yellow substance oozing from and beginning to crust over dozens of punctures and gouges, the worst along his spine and head. (The yellow stuff, of course, was his blood. We are all completely blown away by this stunning revelation.)

The Emissary glanced from building to building as they passed, trying to determine which one was their destination. Not having an amulet of her own, she couldn't read any verbal signage, and while some of the visuals explained themselves, none suggested a culling hive¹ to her. If they were to run into any locals outdoors, she hoped the situation - and the Psiioniic's urgent need of care - would be more self-evident, without the need to play charades.

¹ "Culling" means "taking care of," or "nursing back to health." Obviously. Everybody knows that.

Comments

[scary_music]

[And coming to greet them is a fellow troll-wait no, it's just a human with hair horns for some reason. Ibuki was up for who knows why, maybe she had a surge of energy for some reason]

Uwah?! Has Ibuki finally met kindred spirits?!

[Ibuki those are real horns, but wait, more importantly-]

Wait, one of you is hurt! There's a hospital over here, follow Ibuki!

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

Kindred--what? [She's tired, mentally exhausted, and there's a strange pale girl with ridiculous hair talking about spirits. Spirits? They were hardly ghosts. She's about to dismiss her and head to the eight story walk up when she comments on Psii's condition]

Hospital? What, like a person to look at his wounds?

[She's pretty sure about Psii's feelings on the matter. Docterrorists are rarely helpful and they had always gotten by on the knowledge of plants her and Dolorosa shared and medicines sold in towns. Going to a hospital seemed like a death trap to her. They'd chop off his limbs or something to save his torso--she'd heard stories. ]

[emissaries]

[Aradia nearly mistook the girl for a troll at first, too - wrapping hair around your horns was unusual in most eras, but that wasn't to say it had never ever been fashionable. But she wasn't grey, so either she had some kind of skin condition or she was one of the pink aliens Disciple had mentioned - probably the latter. She couldn't understand a word she was saying, of course, but it sounded oddly like East Beforan.

She stepped forward urgently and responded in kind. In reality East Beforan isn't mutually intelligible with Japanese, they just sound kind of similar, but the amulet will translate it regardless so that's kind of a moot point.]

<Yes! A hospital! Please, he's badly hurt.>

[polariity]

[It's very sweet that everyone is so worried about him, really.]

[A shame that the Helmsman's only response is for red-blue energy to crackle around one hand and gently fold in his fingers until he's flipping everyone off.]

[scary_music]

Ibuki doesn't know if there's anybody there right now to look at him, but the place is magic and should help him heal just by being there! Come on, come on, it's this way!

[And Ibuki will lead the way, specifically towards the B-wing for its healing properties]

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

[She snorted at Psii, shaking her head. It's like him enough to make her smile. Less worried maybe. He's still being his asshole self.] Psii you aren't helping at all.

..Magic. Magic healing. Sure--why not. Let's try it. [She's actually slightly more hopeful about the fact that he might get help without a terrifying person with saws and clamps and knives getting near him. Even if magic isn't real. Maybe it's powered by a psychic who can heal or something. She's heard weirder things

She gestures Aradia and Psiionic to follow their hair-horned lead]

[four_quarts]

[Well, tending to an apparently badly wounded new arrival hadn't exactly been what Ghaleon had planned to do with his evening, but the presence of that much blood at once - no matter what odd color it may be - always means that any prior engagements are canceled. Instead of bothering with pleasantries, the healer gets straight to the point.]

Follow me. I will take you to the hospital.

[polariity]

[For Ghaleon's generosity, he'll get something that sounds... like nothing at all, honestly, since the Helmsman's mouth and words still aren't really acquainted, but there's the feeling of vulgarity in them.]

[Ignore him.]

[If Ghaleon decides to do a closer inspection, however, he'll find that the only areas which are still oozing any sort of blood are the ones on his back. The Helmsman still has his goggles, and, strangely, a lot of the pinpricks dotting his arms seem to be freshly healed.]

[Sure is a weird thing, yep.]

[emissaries]

Magic?

[Aradia was a little skeptical about that, but... she wasn't one to look a gift hoofbeast in the mouth. Anyway, there's that old saying: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Troll Bea Arthur.

She's reasonably sure Troll Bea Arthur said that.]

I... suppose it's better than nothing. [If it's legit, anyway. But she'll follow along with them, at any rate.]

[polariity]

[Beep beep all aboard the train to hospital express...]

[scary_music]

It might not be magic! Ibuki has no idea, she's no expert in these sort of things! You just bring somebody in and UWAH! They start healing up faster!

[And into the hospital's B-Wing they go!]

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

[She looks around curiously but it's hardly what she expected. More blood maybe? Things hanging from the wall? She starts to wonder if the stories were just baseless rumors but she reserves judgement]

Hmn, odd. [The Disciple turns back to Aradia, repeating what Ibuki said]

Oh--do we just. put him on a bed? What all does it heal?

[emissaries]

[At least the hospital wasn't far; even a bundle of twigs could start feeling heavy after a while. Aradia was kind of impressed by the size of the facility, especially relative to that of the settlement, and it seemed clean and nicely maintained inside, for the most part. That was a good sign.

When Disciple started translating, though, Aradia noticed a bit of an inconsistency. Neither she nor the alien girl had switched to the other's language, but they clearly understood each other. A universal translator? She'd have to ask about that in a minute. If there was such a system in place, she wanted in. In the meantime, though...]

... What's a bed?

[If that was a medical term, she doubted there would be any out in the hallway, but it was worth knowing what they were looking for.]

[polariity]

[Well, y'all are going to have to put your rescued nerd somewhere, because apparently he's getting tired of just sitting here. There's a rattley kind of breath, and then he starts to wiggle against Aradia's back.]

[There's not too much energy to it, but he's honestly trying to get his face to meet the floor. Maybe a hard enough jolt will wake him out of this dream.]

[scary_music]

Ibuki thinks it heals anything that somebody would normally heal on their own! Just faster!

[She peers into a vacant room, to make sure it is vacant indeed]

Here! Here! You can put him on that bed here!

[She glances at Aradia, before pointing at the bed]

That's a bed! They're comfy!

[emissaries]

[Unfortunately, Aradia didn't speak Ghaleon's language, so the request to follow went over her head. Clearly the fellow was demanding something, but heck if she knew what. He looked like he could be a guardsman, or a soldier maybe?]

Uh - I'm sorry, dear, but I don't understand... [Too bad her hands were full, so she couldn't really gesture to that effect.] We come in peace. Our friend, he needs a doctor.

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

Ah sorry. It's a human thing--Psii!

[She rushes over to grab him before he does some sort of permanent damage] Soft and I guess they sleep on them? They seem to be in respiteblocks. I used it as a pile. Here, on the bed you wiggly thing. [She glances up at Ibuki] Thank you.

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

[She bites her lip. Doctor? Does he really need a doctor? And what an odd way to shorten the title. Fine, she sighs inwardly. She'll indulge her new companion and this other one. If anything looks suspicious, she's got claws.]

Which way then? He's--he's no dying. It was just bloody getting him out.

[Bloody and tearful. She'll have to soak her clothing to get this out. A small price to pay.]

eep sorry for late

[emissaries]

[Psii's sudden wriggling nearly knocked Aradia off balance, but only nearly. Instead she planted her feet and tightened her grip, such that he was only going anywhere if he managed to bodily fling himself into the air.]

Good grief, you! Hold still!

[Yeah, it was probably best to get him on the thing before he managed to hurt himself worse.]

Well, it's no recuperacoon, but it'll do.

[With Di's help, she went ahead to lay Psii down on the human sleep rectangle. Facedown, of course. Even if the B-wing healed things ten times faster than usual, it'd probably be a while before he could comfortably lie on his back. Aradia kept one hand gently on his arm as she turned back to Ibuki.]

Thank you, miss. You've been a great help. Uh - if I can ask you one more favor, is there a doctor in this village?

[findsrisks]

The Disciple is one that Nanaki knows. They had become acquainted not too long ago, when the Disciple had first arrived. The other two, however, are new to Nanaki.

She does not recognize the yellow blood as blood at first. It seems more like the color of mustard. But as she approaches, she sees that the 'mustard' is actually coming from several cuts on the Psiioniic, and mid-sentence her words turn into a scream.

"Oh hey, is everything alriiiiIAAAAAAAHHHH why is he bleeding yellow?!"

[polariity]

Middle fingers! Middle fingers for everyone. It's like he's at the head of some douchebag parade throwing out candy to everyone.

He's not actually well enough to do this, mind you. If Nanaki pays attention, she'll notice there's a faint and alternating red-blue glow around his hands. Psionics are a beautiful thing.

[polariity]

[Disciple touching him again earns another keening noise, but he goes still enough at her touch long enough to be placed onto the bed. There's no further movement at that.]

[Don't mind him, just facedown, hoping to suffocate]

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

She blinks. Well, that's a new reaction. She finds herself wondering what color Nanaki bleeds to be honest, to put her in such a worry. These humans are always finding something new to worried about.

"He's yellowblooded, I'm green, she's red, we're practically a conveyance light. Calm down a little, you'd think you'd never seen colored blood."

[scary_music]

You're welcome, you're welcome! Ibuki's glad to help! Ooh... sorry, Ibuki hasn't met everybody! She can try to ask around to see?

[unfortunately, the amulet network thing was used so little that she didn't think of that...]

[disciplewhomsignlessloves]

[Her attention is already fixed on Psiionic again, tilting his face so he won't really smother himself in that and fumbling for a chair to pull up close. She's mumbling to herself.]

He doesn't need one...if he'll heal faster, what would they do? Try to chop off his legs to heal his arms.

[She starts fiddling with the straps to his goggles, wincing when she sees how they've grown into his face. Peeling them off is a slow delicate process.] I'm going to personally murder the Empress if we ever cross paths.

Ah, she says she'll ask, Emissary. Ibuki--um, is there a way to get them amulets?